In Theory, there is no Practice.

Bear with me, please. I am going to be thinking out loud. I have a lot on my mind, and am feeling overwhelmed.
I am reading more than 5 books concurrently, because I am not able to focus. Reading may be too strong a verb.

I am rereading Storm Born, Dreams Made Flesh (Black Jewels, Book 5), and The Shadow Queen (Black Jewels, Book 7). I am also reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware (Pragmatic Programmers), Test Driven Development: By Example (Addison-Wesley Signature Series), The Productive Programmer (Theory in Practice (O’Reilly)), Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship (Robert C. Martin Series), and just got Head First Web Design. I need to study Discovering The Mind Of A Woman: The Key To Becoming A Strong And Irresistible Husband Is.… and The Five Love Languages of Children. Some side projects that I should be delving into, but haven’t, are The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (3rd Ed.) and The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. And of course, the Bible.

It should be obvious that I cannot really be getting much out of any of these. I am rereading the Black Jewels books because I like them, they are upbeat and they seem to be filling a need in my heart for some good thoughts. I am rereading Storm Born because the second book in the series is due out soon, and I wanted to refresh my memory of the first book. The programming books, I am ‘reading’ to help me with work. Honestly, I am having a great deal of trouble really getting into any of them extensively. I have been sampling sections, not systematically reading them. The two relationship books are to help me be a better husband and father. I really want to improve my classical background, and have a 4 year old we are preparing to home school.

I have no real plan for any of this. That is changing. The purpose of this post is to begin the planning / organizing process. The first step is to define the problem.

I want to increase understanding of

• The Bible
• classical works
• concepts and skills for computer programming (my profession)
• childhood education
• relationships (wife and child)

Will you join with me as I document my personal travels from unfocused, prodigious wishes to organized, self-directed personal education achievements?

Cool, thanks!